In years past (before the merger of JVC/Kenwood) I would sell far more JVC than Kenwood (we sell JVC, Clarion, Kenwood, Panasonic and Eclipse....dropped Pioneer a couple years back as they were the worst performing of the group...of what I sell, my recommendations go Clarion>JVC>Panasonic>Eclipse>Excelon>Kenwood>Blaupunkt>Pioneer) simply because they never came back for repair....and they tended to have higher voltage preouts. I never ran into the "bass heavy" aspect of them, if anything they seemed a little anemic/nasally in the mid range.

As for cheesy looking...that is in the eye of the beholder I guess. I think they are simplistic looking for sure, but extremely user friendly.

dunno. I only have experience with 1 kenwood, and it's been good to me. I've always seen JVC as pieces of shit -- like blaupunkt. I have had great experiences with pioneer/premiere. I would buy Alpine tho, if I needed a new HU.

People always rave about eclipse, yet I've had two break on me. I found them to be very shitty.

But, the only way to choose a head unit is to go down to an audio shop and play with a bunch and decide what you like. Bring a CD you know well and listen to the same song on different units. This will give you some perspective on what units sound better than others. Dont say "this sounds good" and be done with it. Listen to specific details. And of course, always use the same speakers on the switchboard. Find a balence of features, price, and sound that you like.

Because you used the shop's switchboard, at least give them a chance to sell you the unit. Dont go in with the aditude that you can get the same unit on eGay for half the price, realise that a B&M shop has overhead. I'd gladly pay $20 over crutchfeild for a same unit if it came with everything I need to install it as well (just like crutchfeild). If something goes haywire I'd rather drive 20min than ship and wait 2 weeks. Otherwise, I do all of my unit purchases from crutchfeild.

In years past (before the merger of JVC/Kenwood) I would sell far more JVC than Kenwood (we sell JVC, Clarion, Kenwood, Panasonic and Eclipse....dropped Pioneer a couple years back as they were the worst performing of the group...of what I sell, my recommendations go Clarion>JVC>Panasonic>Eclipse>Excelon>Kenwood>Blaupunkt>Pioneer) simply because they never came back for repair....and they tended to have higher voltage preouts. I never ran into the "bass heavy" aspect of them, if anything they seemed a little anemic/nasally in the mid range.

As for cheesy looking...that is in the eye of the beholder I guess. I think they are simplistic looking for sure, but extremely user friendly.

Click to expand...

i didn't know they merged, and apparently, after a quick search and review, kenwood already had some stake in JVC.

Anyways, I don't care for the huge dot matrix lcd in the JVC units, and didn't feel they had as many features for the money, along with my personal dislike of the sound quality. I'm not saying they're horrible units, as i did use one for a year or so and it never had a problem. i just don't like them.

I personally run an Excelon KDC-X679 and it's the only motorized face KW unit i've seen that doesn't have ribbon cable failure. I'll admit that's the biggest downfall of KW units. i don't have any problems with pio/prem units, and haven't dealt with any pana lately. eclipse is a love it or hate it product, and to me alpine sound went to shit in 2004, so i've never fucked with them since. and i was never a fan of trying to get through all the sound menus on alpine.

unless the head unit automatically equalizes the lower frequency levels then the JVCs can't be "bass" heavy since it just since all the signals like all the other headunits. Only thing that can effect that would be the speakers that reproduce the music, or like i said there is a EQ built into the head unit and it's been adjusted to be more "bass heavy"

unless the head unit automatically equalizes the lower frequency levels then the JVCs can't be "bass" heavy since it just since all the signals like all the other headunits. Only thing that can effect that would be the speakers that reproduce the music, or like i said there is a EQ built into the head unit and it's been adjusted to be more "bass heavy"

Isn't there like a wiring adaptor that goes between the connection in your vehicle to the back of the unit? Anywhere online I can pick up one of these for a 98 Tacoma? I am thinking about going with a Pioneer DEH-P4000UB.